Mystery Picture 091031

Today we have a familiar picture that appeared in two very early GAP posts.

Karla thought there was a story behind this picture of Grandpa and Grandma, but I don't know what it is. Does anyone know the story?

100 Posts

Blogging at a [relatively] quick pace since starting in September has been fun but, honestly, unsustainable. We've been getting pictures and information out quickly so there is plenty for people to read and comment on. We've had good fortune with family members contributing stories about pictures and posts, but there are still some gaps to fill.

It seems appropriate to present a top ten list of info GAP needs, so here it goes:

1. Questions for Grandma.
2. Source material (especially film and slides, but also photos and documents) for future posts.
3. Family group picture identification. (There are tons of these, but we're waiting to post more until we make inroads on the most recent one, to keep things from getting confused.)
4. Identification for lots mystery pictures.
5. Family Facebook and blog links.
6. Your original stories about the family.
7. Story and article links from around the interwebs.
8. Cross-links and contributions to other Stutz family sites.
9. Recent pictures from the Stutz farm.
10. A picture of Lori as a baby.

Thank you everyone for collaborating with GAP and sharing the family history. I hope we can keep this going for hundreds of more posts.

Mystery Picture 091029

This picture shows Susan, Angie, and Lloyd having a pizza contest in a slide that was developed in December 1972.


The mystery? Who won? Where were they? Was this taken in December -- it sure looks like summertime clothes and flowers -- or was the roll of film just developed months later?

School Portrait - Lori

It is school portrait time of the year again and you know what that means -- kiddos with cute outfits and big smiles! Send in your current ones and GAP will post them. In the mean time, we'll run a bunch from the archives.

Today we have Lori in kindergarten.

Does anyone know when this picture was taken?

We are still very much interested in finding a picture of Lori as a baby. Rumor has it that no such picture exists, but don't believe it. Someone, somewhere has a picture of her, perhaps in a group photo?

Mystery Picture 091028 - Halloween Edition!

Dave, Susan, Alea, and Breck already have the Halloween spirit in full swing, with pictures of pumpkin carving to prove it. With them in Mumbai on the other side of the International Date Line, they of course will have the jump start on this year's festivities.

Do not despair, norteamericanos! GAP today is full of last-minute Halloween ideas just for you. Sure, we jumped the gun a little and suggested awhile back that Ellen dress up as Indiana Jones. But now we present lots of other costume ideas.

First up, today's mystery picture.

I am pretty sure this is not Halloween and that one of them is Susan. (Not the Susan above; the other Susan. I know, it get's confusing!) The picture said "Susan's party - Jul 69", so that's all I know. But, which one is Susan and who are the others? And, honestly, besides Cinderella in pink, what are those other costumes supposed to be? So, if you are short on Halloween ideas, the mystery picture demonstrates that you can raid your dress-up bin, grab random items, and still be famous for your costume 40 years later!

Next up, Grandpa and his cousin Ela.

I know nothing else about this picture, but I am going to guess that this wasn't Halloween, either. Does anyone have ideas about when or where this picture was taken? Again, rummage through the dress-up bin and become famous, except this time it is about 80 years after the picture was taken.

Next, the Montana look.

If instead of crossing the International Date Line to have Halloween early you fall into a time warp and get magically transported to the summer of 1978, you should -- for the maximum awesomeness effect -- 1) unbutton your shirt, 2) put an apron on, 3) wear the gaudiest sunglasses you can find, and 4) give the universal signs of coolness. Rob (yeah, that's me) surely proves that this costume could work for Halloween, too. Trick or treat, baby!

Finally, Joe puts on Marine dress whites and a wig for a costume with ... uh ... patriotic Halloween flair.

We won't ask if he doesn't tell!

Grandma - Deer Hunter

On her weekly trips to Provo, Susan chats with Grandma and Grandpa, of course, and often reports their stories about pictures and posts from GAP. We are the beneficiaries of Susan's reporting, and Grandma and Grandpa enjoy hearing what's going on with the family and talking about family history. A few weeks ago, Susan asked Grandma whether she would like to contribute to GAP and, well, here is what Susan wrote to me.

G-ma seemed real interested. I told her we could have a Grandma corner place and her kids and g-kids and g-g-kids could write and ask questions....Like have you ever been deer hunting? BTW the answer is yes, years ago she even shot a couple of deer with a real "nice little" 30/30 rifle grandpa had given her.

Perhaps Grandma was the lucky hunter of the deer in the picture posted today?

If any of the "kids and g-kids and g-g-kids" have questions or stories for Grandma and Grandpa, send them our way -- submit them in a comment or e-mail them to stutz at montana dot com -- and we'll do our best to post them and report any answers we get.

Grandma Is Home

As a follow up to and earlier post, I note that Susan wrote on Facebook this past Saturday, in response to a question from Shari about contacting Grandma and Grandpa, "I brought grandma home from the hospital today and Ellen is staying with them tonight. CALL HER!"

I waited a few days to post this, just to make sure everything was OK. Having not heard any more recent news, I am posting it now so the wider family knows that she is home. A special thanks to Craig, Ellen, Priscilla, Susan, and everyone else caring and praying for Grandma and Grandpa.

Non-Mystery Picture 091027

A few days ago we saw our first deer picture, which remains a mystery. This picture shows Tom, John, and Joe with a deer, and the slide is dated November 1960. It is a little hard to see the deer and Tom, but if you squint just right you will see them.

I presume the deer was dead. I like this picture a lot, but wonder who the dog is, what the doll's name is, and whether there is an interesting story behind this picture?

Mystery Picture 091027

I found today's mystery picture while looking for a picture of a cow on the Stutz farm. No luck! The info about this picture, using my fancy pants file naming system, is pretty limited: 640700.JUL 64 H (20).Family Reunion.jpg.

Who is in this cute family? Where are they? Does anyone recognize the horse or car?

As an extra feature, here is the highest resolution scan I have of the super mysterious person cropped off on the left side of the above picture.

There's not much to go on, but it looks like tubing was involved. Can anyone tell who this is?

UPDATE

Darrel Crawford writes in the comments, "It looks like Gary Stutz on the horse." Thanks, Darrel!

Found On The Interwebs - Holy Cow!

We introduce a new, occasional feature called FOTI (found on the interwebs) where we track down online family history information. This is a great feature for audience participation, so send me your links and suggestions.

Today we have two stories from two different sources about cows on the Stutz farm. The first is from an unidentified Provo neighbor who wrote a May 24, 2009, blog entry entitled Memories of my father on Memorial Day PART II, with lots of wonderful reminiscences, including the following.

We always had time to visit my fathers friends…The Jameses, Cliff, Beaver, Irvin and Muriel, Nathan, Kamel, Sweed, Clair, Wally, Charlie, Danner, Murdock , Ted, Van, or Uncle Jack and a host of other NEIGHBORS, or those he knew from his many years in Provo.

We added onto the house, built his barn, picked cherries peaches and pears at the orchard he bought from Cliff on the S-bend of the canyon road, or apples and plums in his orchard behind the house. He loved growing a garden, between the trees, before he decided to surround the trees with lawn. Once when the garden was in full production, our Neighbor’s (Howard Stutz) cow got out after we had just irrigated, and it walked down one row of dads garden eating every cabbage plant in the row. When dad saw what had happened I expected him to blow a gasket, but he liked Howard, so he just said He trusts his cows too much… he needs to have a better fence…and I never have liked cabbage all that much anyway.

I don't know who "Thot man" is or where he lived, but if anyone does know him or want to contact him, he might enjoy our stories as much as we enjoyed his. Thanks, Thot man!

The second story was an article contributed by Ellen to the Mormon Times on August 1, 2008, entitled Heavens to Betsy -- milk cow paid her tithing.

Growing up on a small farm in Provo offered some unique experiences for our family.

We raised most of our own food. The orchard provided apples, peaches and cherries. Eggs from the chickens needed to be gathered each day. But it was our fence-jumping milk cow, Sheboygan, that I remember best.

Mother was troubled by the fact that she was not paying tithing on the money she collected by selling raw milk. She set out to rectify this error, but she didn't know in whose name the money should be paid. It was really Dad's cow, but my brothers were the ones who milked her, and Mother was the one who sold the milk and collected the money.

Mother simply decided to submit the money in the name of Sheboygan Stutz, give it to Dad (who was serving as the bishop) and let him decide what to do with it. Unfortunately, on this extremely rare occasion, he did not open the tithing envelope before he handed it to his clerk.

As a result, there is a bona fide, tithe-paying cow somewhere beyond the pearly gates. And knowing that cow, she probably jumped the gate to get there.

I'm sure Ellen (and others) have a lot of other great stories like this to share. Thanks, Ellen!

Non-Mystery Picture 091026

While poking around the pictures from 1961 I found this great shot of Craig in Venice, Italy.

The slide, like the other pictures from today, was developed in August 1961. It was not labeled as being from Venice, but the gondolas, water, and church kind of gave it away. The church is Santa Maria della Salute, built in thanks to the end of a flea-borne illness then plaguing the area. I found another picture on the interwebs taken from almost the exact same angle as this one.

Mystery Picture 090915 - Revisited

An earlier post had a picture of Craig that I guessed was from the late 1950s and Dave guessed was from Iran. We were both pretty close, but no stick of gum. I'm now saying the picture was from Turkey in 1961. My proof?

This slide was not labeled, but was on a roll of film with shots from Turkey and, like today's mystery picture, was developed in August 1961. It even has the boots we saw earlier! I still know nothing about this trip, but for now at least I am closing the book on the who (Craig), the where (Turkey), and the when (1961).

Mystery Picture 091026

I know this is Grandpa and that the slide was developed in August 1961. And, that's it!

Does anybody know where this picture was taken or why Grandpa was there?

Mystery Picture 091025

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

Creative Shots - MDOLCTNO Revisited

In a previous Creative Shots post we looked at making distant objects look closer to near objects. I just found a picture that demonstrates this principle on a much, much larger scale.

In this picture -- taken by a satellite orbiting Mars! -- both Earth and Jupiter can be seen. You should click on the picture to look at the really big version. Earth was about seven times closer to Mars than Jupiter was when the picture was taken, so it looks proportionally larger than its actual size. In reality, Earth's diameter is approximately the height of one of the red bands visible on Jupiter.

A description of this picture, including a diagram showing the relative position of the planets, is available here.

One night at the Stutz farm picnic area Grandpa described to me how to calculate the time of night by looking at the stars. It was a complicated formula that, as I recall, used the day, month, and position of the Big Dipper. While I no longer remember Grandpa's formula, I haven't forgotten to look up at the stars with awe, and wonder what else they will teach us.

UPDATE

John jokes in the comments, asking how I managed to "catch a ride" to Mars to snap the picture. I may be spacey at times, but I have yet to make it to Mars!

He got me thinking that now is a good time to check how far I'd get using the money I've been saving in my "Mars Trip" mason jar, which currently has $10.20 (including the Susan B. Anthony coin that I really don't want to spend unless I absolutely must). My best guesstimate is: $30 million to go to the International Space Station ÷ 230 miles for the average ISS altitude ÷ 5280 feet = about $25/foot of altitude to travel to space. So, my $10.20 should get me about five inches toward Mars at current space travel rates. Don't hold your breath for my Mars photo, John!

Family Pictures - Fun Farm Photos

In the spirit of family collaboration, GAP is excited to present its first Family Pictures submission extravaganza! If this works as hoped, we can make this an occasional feature. Suggestions for future extravaganzas are, of course, always welcome.

This is your chance to submit pictures -- recent or old -- of something or someplace you like about the Stutz farm. You can either 1) submit a comment to this post with a link to a Web page, blog post, or Facebook entry with the picture or 2) send an e-mail to stutz at montana dot com with the picture attached. A short description would be great, too. I will update this post when entries are submitted.

To get things started, here is mine.

This is Roxy, Boyd, and Sam playing with the bikes in the barn on February 11, 2006. Although I never took the bikes farther than Will's Pit Stop, they provided cheap, easy, and cool-looking neighborhood transportation. -- Rob

Mystery Picture 091022

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

New Family Link - Stutz Ohana

John sent GAP his blog link and we've added it to our link list. Check out his family's awesome pictures; perhaps he will post an update in the future? Well, we will see....

Non-Mystery Picture 091021

"Howard Reese, a cousin of Clara Coombs Stutz, who died at the age of four. Howard was named for him."

UPDATE

Andrew writes in the comments, "His mother was Susan Calista Woolley." Thanks, Andrew!

Mystery Picture 091021

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

Mystery Picture 091020

The mystery in this picture is when it was taken. Can anyone estimate the date? Does anyone remember the occasion that brought the whole family together?

Click on the picture for a larger image. And, feel free to post everyone's names in the comments.

Non-Mystery Picture 091020

This is the earliest slide picture I have of Grandma, from 1958, at Niagra Falls. I love this picture!

I also love that Grandpa called Grandma "Millie" when he labeled the slide, a name I had never heard used for her before. She has always been Grandma to me. I think Grandpa may have always called her Millie, since he used it on other, later slides, too.

Grandma in Our Prayers

Ellen just posted on Facebook:

"Been in the hospital with my parents all day. Mom had a blood clot in her leg but had emergency surgery today to get it removed. All is well and she will be home again in a couple of days. Family will stay with Dad while Mom's recuperating."

Please be sure to keep Grandma, Grandpa, and the family caring for them in your prayers.

Extended Family on the Web

Since starting to gather family Web and Facebook links about a week ago, GAP has had a tremendous number of additions. Just today I added a Facebook link to Mike (Hi, Mike!), who earlier helped identify Jordan in a mystery picture. Jordan has a blog with the cutest baby pictures you probably will ever see, and he even has an update from just this week. These interwebs sure do make it easy to keep tabs with everyone!

Direct links to Web sites and Facebook profiles are always available on the right side of GAP, as is a link to add more links. Add me as a friend on Facebook and, boom, you will be added to the list. That is, unless I miss it somehow in my every-older age, in which case an e-mail nudge should do the trick.

Mystery Picture 091019

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

I think this is Grandpa and ... is that Hazel? Does anyone recognize the location or the house in the background? I wonder what the occasion is for the fancy clothes and corsage?

UPDATE

Darrel Crawford writes in the comments:

The House looks likes the Duce home which is north of the Stutz home at the end of the block.

Thanks, Darrel! The following is the largest size image I have of the house, in case that helps.

Disposable Cameras and Reverse Winding

In a previous post I noted that that sometimes film can be shot with reverse film numbering.

"[T]he roll of film could have been shot backwards, with the the numbering running from largest numbers to smallest; I have seen this happen before on a roll from my wedding (I was very aware of which events happened first, despite the numbering on the roll), and it may be fairly common but unnoticed on old rolls."

I hadn't thought about this much ... until just this weekend.

My sons received disposable cameras at a birthday party last month and shot through the rolls pretty quickly. I picked up the developed film this weekend, and on both disposable cameras the film was exposed in reverse order. Which got me thinking, maybe this phenomena is related to disposable cameras (the boys shot with Fujis). Perhaps a disposable camera was used for the wedding pictures I previously noticed was in reverse order? We don't use disposable cameras very often.

The article "How Are Disposable Cameras Made?" says that disposable cameras use reverse winding so that the film is pulled into the cartridge as it is shot, making it unnecessary to rewind when finished.

Has anyone else noticed this? If there is a roll of film you know you shot on a disposable camera (Fuji or otherwise), can you tell if the numbering on the film is the reverse order of the order the pictures were taken?

This isn't an earth-shattering discovery, but it explains the reverse order of photographs shot with a disposable camera.

Mystery Picture 091018

Who is Grandma holding in this picture, which was printed in May 1975?

Also, this picture is a pretty good example of what Easy.Filter and automatic sharpening can do for an old photo.

These image editing functions do not add any data to the picture. They just make the existing data look better.

Bright Sunshiny Day

Susan snapped a great cell phone picture today of Grandpa and Grandma on a glorious fall afternoon.

She posted it on Facebook and wrote, "Here is my dear-ole-dad, with the autumn sun pouring down on him." Simple and beautiful. Thanks, Susan!

Correction

In an earlier post, I mentioned a PDF file of Grandpa's album that I was (and am) happy to e-mail to family members upon request. One extended family member who received it wrote in to say that several names in a large family photo were inadvertently switched around.

"Page 23 shows a large family photo. ... I thought you might like to know for your own records that there are 3 names that are mixed up. The middle row should read: Vivian holding Rebecca, Colleen, JOLAYNE (not Gail), Doreen, Theola, GAIL (with braids on top of head), DOROTHY ANN (... with the long braid hanging down), Tom and Ronnie."

Here is the photo (click on it for a larger image) and the names.

I am presuming this correction is, well, correct, but can anyone else confirm it? Thanks for the sharp eyes!

Mystery Picture 091017

Hi Grandma, John, and Grandpa!

This looks like a Cub Scout event. What was the occasion and when was it?

UPDATE

John gives us the story on this picture. "1966 First day being a cub scout. I think Grampa was the bishop at that time. I was 8 years old." Thanks, John!

Non-Mystery Picture 091016

We saw a mystery picture of Rowan and Gladys a few days ago. This one, though, has information written on back:

Rowan, Gladys, & Family
Rowan & Gladys, Gail, Gerald, Ronald, Douglas, Linda, Laural, Clara Dee
1953

I cannot match each name with each face -- you are invited to do so -- but at least we know when the picture was taken and who is in it. Does anyone know anything else about this picture or have a story to go with it?

UPDATE

Andrew Bore writes in the comments:

"My guess would be
BR: Gerald, Gail, Rowan, Ronald
FR: Linda, Laurel, Gladys holding Clara Dee, Douglas."

Thanks, Andrew!

Mystery Picture 091016

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

The picture said, "Snowdirft of 1936-37. Building is 16 ft high."

New Authors! More Features!

Karla has joined the blog as an author, taking on the FBR feature and whatever else she dreams up. Thanks, Karla!

If anyone else would like to be a regular author, let me know. If you would like to contribute but are unsure how you could contribute, I have some ideas.

Non-Mystery Picture 091015

We know a bit about this picture, based on what was written on it.

Cardston, Alberta
Leo, Rowan, Cliff
Fern, Eleanor, Verena

Does anyone know anything else about this picture or have a story to go with it?

Mystery Picture 091015

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

This Site Also Demonstrates One of the Great Dangers of Archeology, Not to Life and Limb, Although That Does Sometimes Take Place.

Ellen was archeologying (?) in Central America while Raiders of the Lost Ark was playing in the theaters. As a kid, I imagined her dodging boulders and fending off snakes. I suspect the reality was slightly less lively. But, who knows? Ellen does!

Here are a few pictures from an archeology trip of hers in 1981, I think. Unfortunately, none of the pictures have her wearing leather and brandishing a whip (which would actually be a pretty cool Halloween costume).

I chatted on Facebook with her today about sharing stories of her trip. I know you didn't find the Ark of the Covenant -- *spoiler alert* it's in a government warehouse -- but what did you find down there, Ellen?

UPDATE

Ellen writes in the comments:

"In 1980 I took my first trip to Guatemala. We stayed for a week in Guatemala City. We were waiting for the crew to finish cutting the landing strip for the airplane to land in El Mirador where we would be digging. Guatemala City is built on the ancient Mayan site of Kaminal-Juyu which seemed to spew artifacts every time anyone tried to build a new road or dig a foundation for a house or dig in a garden. Part of the ruins were preserved for study and tourists. The top picture is a sign at the entrance of one of these areas where archaeologists were working. The second picture shows a roof protecting some of the excavated walls of the ancient Maya building. The bottom picture shows mounds of unexcavated ruins. These hills are ancient remains of crumbled buildings: temples, palaces, plazas, even small pyramids. We spent several hours visiting with the local archaeologists and wandering through the area."

Thanks, Ellen! Were you on a school trip? Did you participate in any digs? Inquiring minds want to know!

Ellen writes again, this time with "the rest of the story!"

"The trip was when I was a graduate student at BYU studying archaeology. We had a grant from National Geographic to dig in as site called El Mirador which is located in the Guatemalan lowlands in northern Guatemala. Most of the students from BYU had driven down a couple of weeks before and had hiked into the site by mule. The expedition leader, Dr. Matheny, received additional money for the project after they had left and called me to see if I would like to participate as well. He and his wife and I flew down in a little 4-seater Cesna airplane which we would use to fly supplies in and out of the site. We flew from Provo to Mexico and on to Guatemala where we stayed for a week in Guatemala City. That is the background for the pictures that are posted. After a week or so, we flew to El Mirador but we were not sure if the crew had cleared a landing strip for us or not so we just circled the site from above. In those days there were no cell phones. All we had was a 'walkie-talkie' which buzzed and crackled and faded in and out as we tried to communicate with the crew. We asked about the landing strip and they said something about a 'week' so we assumed that it would be another week before it was ready. But what they were trying to say was that they couldn't hear us because the batteries were 'weak'. Nevertheless, we went back to Flores, the nearest city, and were prepared to wait another week. There was a group of Guatemalan workers who were hired to help us dig who were going to hike into El Mirador with mules. They would carry a load of supplies and equipment into the site for us. I had the option of waiting a week to fly, or to hike in with these workers. I chose to hike in. It took 3 days. We slept in hammocks and used machetes to cut our way through the jungle. It was quite an adventure which I won't elaborate on here. When I arrived at El Mirador, the misunderstanding about the plane had been resolved and Dr. Matheny was already there. I could have flown in if I had waited a day or two. But I never regretted the hike. It was one of those rites of passage that every archaeologist ought to do once."

Mystery Picture 091014

Facebook reminds me that today is Cathy's birthday. Not that I would forget; I think she and I are the two cousins closest in age -- six days apart. So, here's a mystery picture with Cathy.

Let's see ... there's Boyd, Carl, Wendy, Lori, and Cathy. But, who is the mystery man in the middle? I'll bet the kids out there know!

If you have not yet seen it on Facebook, be sure to check out Cathy's skydiving photo album from this summer!

Mystery Picture 091013

The mystery is the story behind the picture. Here is the info I have about it, using my fancy pants file naming method:

750600.JUN 75 P 7 (32).Susan & Ellen - 'Stuff' from basement during the flood.jpg

The picture doesn't show too much. Even at a low resolution it is clearly (Ha!) unfocused.

What caused the flood? Who discovered it? Was anything damaged? Have there been other floods?

BTW, this picture is from the slide in the earlier dirty slide post; you can sort of see the mattress in the earlier pictures.

UPDATE

Ellen provides the backstory in the comments.

"Our basement got flooded more than once, but I remember one time when the spring rains made the Provo River rise until it overflowed just upstream from the house. Water poured across the fields, across the parking lot at the Lutheran Church, across the road and right down into our basement. We scrambled to haul everything upstairs and outside. Dad got a sump pump to try to pump out the water and sprinkle it across the yard outside. I think that is what the waterspouts in the foreground are. If you notice, there are lilacs in bloom on the bushes in the background. That would make this springtime so it would fit the story. I'm sure that Mom and Dad were stressed out but I remember getting inner-tubes and having a good time paddling from room to room until the water was gone."

Thanks, Ellen! I've never heard of indoor tubing before.

Family Facebook - Permanent Post

Add your Family Facebook links in the comments.

Family Links - Permanent Post

Add your Family Links in the comments.

Family Blog Roundup 091012

Priscilla's Pantry has a cookie salad recipe. Stutzfamily blog thingie has tons of stuff, including a music review (of sorts). Susan's ex gratia has thoughts on fall and baseball. Wyoming Toomer has favorite picture, fond memory, broken body, and sports updates.

This will not be a regular feature unless someone else wants the job. Any takers?

Family Facebook

Family Facebook is a new list feature on the blog with links to family Facebook users. It is certainly incomplete. Your help identifying errors and omissions is appreciated.

Mystery Picture 091012

Do you know anything about this picture? Tell me!

UPDATE

In the comments, Ellen identifies Grandpa on the left and estimates that he is about 10 years old.

"The boy on the left is Grandpa Stutz. He is about 10 years old so the picture was taken about 1928. If you compare this picture to the picture of Grandpa in his family scrapbook, you can see that this was taken about the same time. The other boy is most likely one of his friends but I don't have a name."

Thanks, Ellen!

Creative Shots - Making Distant Objects Look Closer to Near Objects

Using your camera to zoom in on a distant object seems like a pretty straightforward way to make it look closer. Sure, you could walk to the object, but then it wouldn't be distant. Let's explore how we can use your camera's zoom creatively.

When you use your zoom, the camera takes a picture of a more narrow portion of what the camera normally sees without the zoom. For example, when I take a picture of the night sky without zooming, even a full moon looks very small. When I want to take a picture of the moon, I use my zoom to take a picture of the narrow portion of the sky around the moon. How narrow the portion of the sky depends on how much my camera can zoom. The more I zoom, the more narrow the view of the sky I see in the camera and the the larger the moon looks. The moon isn't getting any bigger, and I'm not getting any closer to it; I am just looking at a more narrow part of the sky.

"Angle of view" is the phrase for how wide or narrow the camera can see, and for most cameras this is adjusted with a zoom lens. A wide angle of view lets us see a lot of stuff, useful (for example) when shooting pictures at an indoor birthday party. A narrow angle of view lets us see a smaller amount of stuff, useful (for example) for shooting pictures at a baseball game.

What happens when we are taking pictures of different objects, some of which are close to the camera and some of which are further away? (Farther away? Help me grammar nerds!)

These pictures from last year both show Boyd and Sam sitting in the same place next to the Washington Monument, apparently after eating blue popsicles. The Lincoln Memorial is just under a mile away. In the first picture, I got close to the boys and took the picture with a wide angle of view, making the Lincoln Memorial look smaller than the boys' heads. In the second picture, I walked back a bit and zoomed in on the boys, using a narrow angle of view that made the Lincoln Memorial look larger than the boys. Because the Lincoln Memorial looms larger in the second picture and the distance to it looks compressed, it looks closer to the boys (QED, for the grammar nerds still reading).

This technique can also be used to make little boys look like they are giants crushing famous, distant landmarks. My boys will discover this someday and will be greatly amused by it. Until then, though, I will use this technique to compose creative shots of the boys.

By way of another example, last summer I took a perfectly innocent picture of Sam splashing a board in the Chesapeake Bay:

and made it look like he was playing in front of a nuclear power plant:

Don't worry, radiation is a source of superpowers (Hi Spiderman and the Hulk!).

I took the same picture this summer, but also included Boyd and a friend so they could be superheroes, too.

Let me know if you have any luck using this technique.

UPDATE

I found another image using this technique on a much larger scale at Creative Shots - MDOLCTNO Revisited.

Mystery Picture 091011

This mystery picture is another name-the-person group picture that I think is from a family reunion in the early 1990s. At least, it was in an album with other pictures from that time period. Does anyone recall which reunion this was?

The first picture can be clicked on to view a larger image. If you leave comments with the names of the people, I will fill in the numbered list as people are identified.

1 - Mandy Flecher (non-relative)
2 - Vanessa Scott (non-relative)
3 - ?
4 - Kiome Bulock (non-relative)
5 - Collette Maxwell (non-relative)
6 - Leah
7 - Monica (non-relative)
8 - Liz? (non-relative)
9 - Gina Woodhouse (non-relative)
10 - Ben

UPDATE

Susan takes a stab at Leah (that doesn't sound quite right) for number 6. Thanks, Susan!

Andrew guesses Ben for number 10. Thanks, Andrew!

Leah writes via Facebook and solves the mystery, including why it was so difficult to identify the kids!

it was a birthday party many years ago. so everyone else are friend from elementary school form back in the day ... i remember most of them. 1 is Mandy Flecher 2 Vanessa Scott 3 i am not sure 4 Kiome Bulock 5 Collette Maxwell 6 me 7 Monica 8 Liz (i think) 9 Gina Woodhouse 10 Ben. I think it was my 9th birthday so that would have been in 1993 ish

Thanks, Leah! I have to say, I am not only impressed with Leah's power of recall, I am also impressed that Susan and Andrew could identify the few relatives in the picture. I love this family!

Mystery Picture 091010

Today's mystery picture is not about the who or the where. We know it is Grandma with Chief Mountain in the background. Although Chief Mountain is in Montana, it is just a few miles from the Canadian border. This view is from the north side of the mountain, in Canada.

The mystery is when this picture was taken. The place looks very green and the clouds look very heavy, certainly greener and heavier than I would expect southern Alberta to look during a typical summer family reunion. Any guesses on the month and year?

John posted a bunch of pictures on Facebook from a reunion in Alberta this summer. You must be logged into Facebook to see the pictures, but he has about 100 from the reunion (and about 20 more from Glacier Park and Provo). The pictures are a lot of fun to browse, but one stood out to me as reminiscent of Grandma's picture above.

There's Chief Mountain in the background. And, might that be the same wooden fence that Grandma was standing next to? Who knows; they all look the same. But, it provides a nice visual connection between then and now.

I should note that, although I did adjust the colors/contrast slightly from John's original picture (thank you Easy.Filter), this is pretty much what his picture looked like when he posted it. The grass in this picture and the absence of clouds are what I would expect to see in that area in the summer. Thanks, John, for posting the pictures.

For those of us who do not get to the Cardston area much -- I last went with my siblings and Grandma and Grandpa in the early 1980s -- here is a satellite image (thanks, Google) that includes Chief Mountain (marked "A"). Where is the area that Grandpa is from?

If you have any old pictures, programs, flyers, etc. from a family reunion that you would like to contribute to Grandpa's Apple Press, please let me know.

UPDATE

Andrew Bore, who also contributed to a previous post, added some very helpful context to this one.

"Rob, my guess is the picture was taken in the Leavitt or Mountain View area. J.R. and Clara lived there when my grandmother (Aunt Fern) was born. This may have been at a Coombs reunion. The homestead is roughly in the middle of the area marked by the three highways. Leavitt and Mountain View are both on the highway heading west from Cardston. Glenwood, where the Stutz' also had a farm, is near the top of the map."

Thanks for the info, Andrew! If anyone has the addresses or a mapped location for these family farms, send them my way and I will post them.

John produces a slide of this picture that reveals when it was taken, which we discuss at Mystery Picture 091010 - Revisited.

Mystery Picture 091009

Yesterday and the day before we looked at some cars in our family history. Today, we have a final car photo (for now!) before moving on to some other topics.

That certainly looks like Grandpa with the Mayflower, but I do not recognize who he is with. Any ideas who she is or when and where this was taken?

Although Marlon Brando borrowed Grandpa's fashion sense for A Streetcar Named Desire (which, I'm guessing, came out about a decade after this photo was taken), I must say that Grandpa has Brando beat in the handsome category!